Emergency Update

From October 9 to October 20 El Salvador was hit with steady and torrential rains that totaled more than four feet in many areas. At least 33 people were killed in landslides and more than 35,000 forced to leave their homes.

One of ENLACE's trucks loaded with supplies on October 20While our primary role as an organization is not in the area of disaster relief, ENLACE is supporting the efforts of our local church partners; many of whom are providing food, water and temporary shelter for displaced and affected families. We will continue to offer supplies as needed throughout the country while also working with local churches and communities as they create plans for rebuilding and protecting communities from future natural disasters.

In a conversation with Pastor Miguel Duran on October 19, he reported that mitigation efforts implemented in recent years (projects like cement drainage culverts and retaining walls made of old tires) effectively saved numerous homes and kept roads open.

Damaged tomato plantHowever, small scale farmers have not fared as well. Some reports state that 40-60% of this season’s harvest has been lost, presenting an incalculable challenge for subsistence farmers who rely on these crops to feed their families. ENLACE will continue to support locally managed home garden initiatives throughout the country to help offset the loss of traditional crops experienced by so many.

Click here to provide immediate support as well as lasting change for families affected by the storms in El Salvador.

Relief materials delivered in La Bendición

Shelter in La Reforma, Ciudad ArceLandslide in Ciudad ArceRelief materials delivered in La Reforma

Heavy Rains Cause Devastation in El Salvador: Storm Emergency Update

According to national news organizations, the death toll from rains and mudslides across Central America rose Sunday to at least 80 dead. El Salvador, as one of the top ten most vulnerable countries in the world, has experienced the highest number of fatalities. Thirty-two people have died since the intense rain from a tropical depression began saturating El Salvador’s landscape about seven days ago. The death toll is expected to rise.

Among those dead is a family from the Monte Horeb Church in Ciudad Arce where ENLACE has worked since 2010. The family was home when it was washed away in a landslide yesterday. The church is serving as a temporary shelter for others in the community.

Landslide in Ciudad Arce. Photo: El Diario de Hoy

Mountainous terrain, soil erosion, and poor infrastructure, along with 15 centimeters of rain over a 12-hour period, creates a treacherous combination. We will keep you posted regarding emergency relief efforts as the churches and communities with whom we work organize their efforts. We ask for your prayers for Central America and for El Salvador, especially for those in Ciudad Arce who are mourning the loss of friends and family.

Celebrating Semana Santa

The entire week before much of the world celebrates Easter, the people of El Salvador are celebrating the Semana Santa, or Holy Week, to remember Jesus’s suffering, death, and victorious resurrection. For Latin Americans, this vacation week encompasses some of our deepest and most extensive traditions, while providing us with a break from the normal rush of daily life and giving us time for ourselves and our families.

A traditional "carpet" made of colored sawdust. Photo La Prensa GráficaJust as U.S. families often celebrate Easter with special church services, Easter egg hunts, chocolate bunnies, and pastel colors, Salvadorans participate in traditional celebrations as well. Throughout the week, we enjoy typical Semana Santa foods, such as dried fish with eggs, candies made of mango and desert plums in honey and brown sugar, and a sweet bread called "Torreja." In rural areas, some churches celebrate with special services and others with processions in the streets. In a country where the majority of the population is Catholic, this week is filled with solemn celebrations, fervor, and processions that can be seen throughout El Salvador. One of the most beautiful traditions are the carpets laid down to decorate the city. The carpets are made of sawdust and salt, along with brightly dyed flowers that make up colorful and unique works of art which cover the streets.

It is undoubtedly a week that is long-awaited, and we are excited to spend time with our families as we reflect on the hope and life that comes with the Easter story. Whether we are dying easter eggs in Colorado Springs, attending a sunrise service in California, watching the processionals in San Salvador, or joyfully praising God in a small concrete church in rural El Salvador, Christians all over the world this week are giving thanks for the resurrection and celebrating life everlasting!

Happy Easter!


Breaking the Pattern of Poverty with New Homes

In El Salvador, 32% of household heads are women (UNDP 2004). In the small hamlet of Sirigual, near Abelines, this statistic is exemplified in the lives of three women: Miriam, Olga, and Josefa. They have struggled for years as the sole providers for their children. However, the local church is striving to break the pattern of poverty that has marked their lives by providing a home for each of their families. These homes will mean more than a dry place to sleep at night; they will signify the beginning of a new life full of joy, dignity and hope.

Maria Miriam is the mother of two boys and a girl. She only works for part of the year, selling fruit in the summer and picking beans during the harvest.

Click here to see a picture gallery of three new homes in Sirigual!

ENLACE: Restoring Relationships for Community Transformation

Take a minute to listen to a few local pastors and church leaders explain what ENLACE is all about; equipping churches to transform communities. We always welcome your comments.

CLICK HERE to become a Friend of ENLACE and support ENLACE's growing ministry of equipping churches to transform communities in El Salvador.

Construction, Training, and Haircuts: A Week of Creative Partnership

Last week, The Crossing Church sent a team to collaborate with the Good Samaritan Church in Las Delicias. For some team members, this was their 7th trip partnering with local ENLACE churches. With 25 members, this was the largest team the church had ever sent. It required months of preparation to properly match the skills and desires of the team with opportunities identified by the local community. This year, the result was a multi-faceted trip that included women's leadership training, working with children at a local school, organizing a soccer tournament, a Project Milagro construction project, and even free haircuts and haircutting training. Teams like The Crossing who are involved in a multi-year relationship with a local community play an important role in motivating and empowering the local church to transform its community. 

Click here to see the picture gallery from the work site.

Home Gardens Preach the Gospel in El Salvador: Interview with Pastor Santos Carpio

Click here to read more about Pastor Santos' work in El Espino.

Click here to DONATE to initiatives such as the ones in El Espino.

As always, we welcome your comments!

1,000 Member Congregation Making Huge Impact in El Salvador in 2009

Since the beginning of 2008, 12 new churches have begun to work with ENLACE. Take a minute to see the profiles of two of these churches as they eagerly serve their communities in a variety of tangible ways. 

Pastor Mauricio with ENLACE Church Coach, Lili de Gomez, in San JacintoZurisadai Church: Motivated leadership quickly and effectively connects to its community...

San Jacinto is a rural community located 14 kilometers from the city of Santa Ana.Click here to see the entire San Jacinto profile...

New Jerusalem Church: Large congregation offers huge potential for regional transformation...

Comecayo is a community located less than 5 kilometers from the city of Santa Ana. The community is comprised of...Click here to see the entire Comecayo profile...

Glimpses of Collaboration: New Photo Galleries

In the past two months, multiple U.S. churches have come to partner with the work of local churches and communities in rural El Salvador. Please take a moment to view photos of this wonderful collaboration.

Orange County First Assembly Partners with Jerusalem Church in San Jose El Naranjo

 

SeaCoast Grace Church Continues Partnership with San Antonio Church

 

Briargate Church Empowers and Equips One of ENLACE's Newest Local-Partner Churches in Comecayo 

 

Click here to find out more information about how your church can partner with ENLACE in El Salvador.

Spending 30% on Dirty Water: Measuring the Impact of Project Milagro

Click here to make this dream a reality!

Go to www.projectmilagro.com for more information. 

As always, we welcome your comments.

A Journey of Transformation: Part 2

by Frederick McGough

Transformation

As a member of ADSA’s Advisory Committee, I have been able to see firsthand how effective rural churches in El Salvador can be when they reach out to their communities and initiate programs and projects that benefit of the whole community.  They understand their biblical calling which is to engage their community and be instigators of action. In the process, relationships are restored between community members and with God.  I have witness this transformation, and in that process I am being transformed and my heart is being renovated.

Project Milagro

Project Milagro is an amazing example of this.  To think that the rural church of 60 members, whose pastor has a 2nd grade formal education, has been able to effectively mobilized three communities, their community leaders, local government officials, federal congressional diplomats, and the national water organization ANDA, to focus on the common goal of providing inexpensive and clean water to 1,300 households. It is truly remarkable to watch as this church facilitate a multi-million dollar water project.  Furthermore, since the project was birthed in the community itself, is being managed by community leaders, and requires community participation, the ownership and sustainability of the project will remain in the community's hands.

Frederick with Salvador Romero, Vice President of ADSAMy “gringo mentality” still occasionally limits my comprehension of the sheer significance of the above. I fall back to my “first world” perspective and wonder why the project is taking forever and a day to complete.  I frequently second guess the seemingly endless inefficient construction logistics, and even at times have questioned the overall feasibility of the project.  

Yet over time working with the community, I have come to understand the communal importance of the community members digging the trenches by hand vs. using a machine. I also see the affirmative impact of all community leaders having a say in the process even if it takes weeks to make simple decisions versus "outside experts" telling them what to do. And the magnitude of ownership gained by ADSA in their countless meetings with governmental officials to become a legal water board versus paying "big city attorneys" to accomplish this task cannot be overstated. 

Only in retrospect, do I fully appreciate that the “means” is as important as the “ends”.  Sure, “the outside world” could construct a water system for the community in a fraction of the time and maybe for less money.  By participating in this community transformation, I've learned that since the community is the long term "stakeholder" it's only through the many trials and tribulations that come from the process that the proper sense of responsibility and ownership is birthed.

God’s Work

Last, but far from least, through this project, I have seen what it means to have real faith; faith in ourselves, faith in our neighbors, and most importantly, faith in God.  Project Milagro is God’s work, and it will be completed in His time.  We all must continue to have faith that God will continue to provide the resources. We all must continue put that faith into action and make the most of the resources that He provides. And when the project is completed, our faith will lead us to praise the Lord for what He has provided and our hearts will have true joy from the restored relationships among each other and with God.  

For those of you who have known me for more than five years, this blog might be hard to believe.  All I can say is that God is slowly transforming me.  He has shown me what it means to be truly poor and destitute, beginning with the man I see in the mirror every morning.   

May peace be with you all.      

Click here to read Part 1 of Frederick's "Journey of Transformation"...

Click here to see more about Project Milagro... 

A Journey of Transformation: Part 1

by Frederick McGough

Frederick with his beautiful family

 As the Director of Finance for ENLACE, I have been blessed to be part of an organization with the mission of “transforming communities”.  I also feel extremely fortunate to occasionally get out of the office and participate in various projects, one being Project Milagro.  I have never kept a personal journal, but if I had, I would have written something like this about my involvement over the past year:

Saturday, July 19, 2008 – Water Board Meeting in the semi-rural community of Las Delicias 

As I lean back in the white plastic chair, my mind wonders. I gaze through the open door of the cement block community building and realize that my "North American sight" is still judgmental even after five years of living here. I can’t help but notice the flies hovering over discarded potato chip bags and forgotten plastic bottles. The unwanted scavenger dogs and odd-looking cows loiter about the semi-paved road which are lined with dirt floor shacks that many local residents call home. From my seat I can see the blue and white wall of the overcrowded and understaffed school. The ever-present 90 degree heat and drenching humidity is occasionally interrupted by a slight breeze. The breeze does nothing to stop the sweat from rolling down the back of my neck and forehead.  My mind slips to my prior life, where you would have undoubtedly found me “relaxing” away in the bleachers at Wrigley Field or playing golf on any given summer weekend.  I am brought back to the present by Pastor Miguel’s question, “So, does anyone have any other comments on this issue”.  My focus returns to the nine other members of the Advisory Committee of the newly formed local water board, ADSA. The Advisory Committee has been established to assist ADSA manage their water system.  After two hours and counting, we are still discussing the same, seemly inconsequential issue, and I realize that I won't be making my children’s swimming meet.  In that moment, I asked myself,  "What I’m I doing here?"   

Monday, March 2, 2009 - First Day of Excavation, Las Delicias

Frederick at excavation site on March 2The dry season dust hits my face as I exit the Land Cruiser. The mid-morning sun is baking the already scorched terrain, reminding me why I've covered my exposed skin with sunblock and carry a liter water with me.  I accompany four other ENLACE members to observe and document the first day of the first piping stage of the water project.  Our excitement has been growing over the last five weeks since an agreement was signed between ENLACE, the community, and the national water company, ANDA.  If all goes well, in six months bacteria-free, inexpensive well water will be made more accessible to residents of three communities, who have been buying expensive and unhealthy water from water trucks for decades.

As we walk through a patch of banana trees to the work area, I find myself thinking of the countless job-site meetings I attended as a construction project manager in Chicago. Yet, nothing I had ever experienced could compare to this morning.

Over 100 community members had been digging since dawn with homemade picks and shovels. The trench was nearly a kilometer long and a meter deep, covering three elevations of farm land.  Other community members provided the workers with water, snacks, and moral support, as the community leaders skillfully managed the project. I can honestly say I had a brief sensation of “awe and wonder”. 

Frederick's journey doesn't end here. The second part of his story will be published next week.

Click here to read more about Project Milagro...